No Age Liars

Thursday 21Double dose of punk’d art rock and likely double bill of the year as Liars and No Age roar through Casbah. These L.A. bands released two of '07’s strongest collections, landing top ten on a majority of last year’s indie-crit lists. The three-piece Liars relocated to Berlin to record their last two discs, departures from earlier dance-punk rhythms into more experimental tones and tunes — the effects-heavy drum textures on 2006’s Drums not Dead and the pop deconstruction through hammering repetition of last year’s Liars, the band’s tastiest to date. No Age rises from the L.A. art scene of club/clubhouse The Smell, where you can have a vegan breakfast and a $5 haircut while bands rehearse. Guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/singer Dean Spunt are two founders of that visual, sonic collective (incl., Lavender Diamond, Abe Vigoda, Silver Daggers, Mika Miko), surrounding crowds with art and sound. No Age’s Fat Cat debut Weirdo Rippers is a collection of the duo’s singles and e.p.s. The disc’s fuzzed-out, amp’d up charge has been described as “surfy psychedelia” by the critic who wrote, “The songs have thumping heartbeats. Each and every one. All the jangling feedback loops and cymbal submersions in the world can’t hide that.” Liars and No Age are loud, but a good loud — leave the earplugs on the bed stand.... If you miss the door to that one, New York punk progenitor Marky Ramone’s playing downtown at belo and heavy-metal heads Queensryche and Dokken’ll be rokken House of Blues.

Friday 22The brothers Alvin bring back the blast, as original line-up of L.A. bar band the Blasters drops in on Belly Up. Give a listen to 2002’s live reunion disc Trouble Bound for an update. It may be 4/4 blues rock to your feet, but brother Dave, a Grammy winner (Best Traditional Folk Album, 2001), can pen a tune. Hacienda Brothers and honky-tonk DJ Gonzo open.... Wanna get yer roots rock on closer to home, dig the gig at Tower Bar, where La Mesa lounge lizard and former Beat Farmer guitarist Joey Harris and his new crew the Mentals will turn it out and turn it up.... Zep heads can’t wait for the reunion tour? Catch L.A. apers Led Zepagain at House of Blues. Don’t forget your air guitar.... Music’s back at the Ché Café, which’s running a sound system benefit this weekend. (They want the one that goes up to 11.) Friday night’s punk lot includes Cathect, the Americans, and All or Nothing Hardcore (L.A.). Check out Saturday’s surprise below.... Jimmy Lavalle’s Album Leaf mines sonic soundscapes for the drone-pop conscious at Casbah. Solid bill with Kill Me Tomorrow, Manuok, and What Laura Thinks and Feels.... San Fran she-soul sisters Her Grace the Duchess take the Gossip a side-step and one diva further. Check their MySpace samples and prepare to get funk’d up at Bar Pink Elephant.... Get wet at Whistle Stop with Swim Party or Rolling Ston’d at the Ken with Roses on Her Grave and the Swedish Models.

Saturday 23San Diego shriek punks Locust swarm the Ché Saturday night. Last year’s New Erections continued the quartet’s flights of rapid-fire screamo and time-sig experiments à la Blood Brothers. Locust tour Pacific Rim next month, so catch 'em while you can. Local Ramoners the Atoms on the bill.... Metal-edged alt-rock quartet Weatherbox tour debut American Art, a collection of buzz-saw guitars and languid indie vox, through teen scene Epicentre. Jet Lag Gemini, Shining Through, and Anglin share the Mira Mesa stage.... Hot-shit locals the Sess rock North Park’s Bar Pink Elephant Saturday night with dance-y punk-n-blues. Grab the new single, give them pancakes.... Missed the Van Halen show at Sports Arena? Catch trib act Atomic Punks at Belly Up. Hear tell the Hollywood band nails the Hollywood band.... Hometown perennials fLUF and buzz band Buckfast Superbee visit grungy alt-rock on a Casbah crowd. According to their website, Buckfast’s got a Pall Jenkins–produced disc in the hopper. Matt Curreri and his Ex-Friends serve up country-fried pop appetizers.... Out of the garage and into the Ken Club: surf-rock sets with the Widows, Monsters from Mars, and Thee Cormans at the end of Adams.

Sunday 24Grammy winners Bone Thugs-n-Harmony drop in on House of Blues Sunday night. Last year’s Strength & Loyalty went gold for the Cleveland hip-hop crew, which garnered an AMA for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Band, making 2007 one of the 20-year-old band’s best years. Openers include L.A. trip-hop duo Jupiter Rising and Native American Hustlers Dago Braves.... Jazz-n-blues crooner Earl Thomas will belt 'em out at Belly Up’s Benefit Concert for NCCS Food Bank. O.C. chanteuse Amber Ojeda and Santa Fe singer/songwriter Justus Ewing perform in support.... 94/9 props a locals-only showcase at Casbah. The radio-broadcasted sets feature Get Your Death On, Inigo, War Stories, and Frantic Romantic. Show’s free, as is the grub.... Citizen Video will screen cult classic Badlands (Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek) at Whistle Stop Sunday afternoon at 4p. Afterward, stick around the Stop for Night of the Cookers, jocks spinning vinyl bop.

Monday 25Belly Up’s booked sleeper sets of the week, as the mayor of Americana, Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupe, Son Volt), makes his annual Solana Beach stop. This isn’t a Son Volt set. Farrar’s stretching his stage legs with a solo outing before Volt tour behind last year’s The Search commences. Check the takes on Stone, Steel & Bright Lights to sample Farrar’s live fare. Fellow Gob Ironite Anders Parker sets the stage. With these two splitting the bill, expect to hear some of Gob Iron’s '06 debut Death Songs for the Living.... Twee-poppers British Sea Power dropped an arena-rock record couple weeks back called Do You Like Rock Music? The Rough Trade disc is a departure for the Brighton quartet, garnering mixed reviews round indie webland — more heady than heavy seems to be the common denominator. Pitchfork scored the disc a “U.2.” British Sea Power sails into Casbah, their first stateside gig of the tour, with UK kids Colourmusic and likeminded locals the Modlins.... Trick triple bill as local indie acts Old Man Hands and Red Pony Clock set the stage at the Ché for “Denver’s Dylan” Bad Weather California.... Goth-rock wonk Marilyn Manson powders his nose at House of Blues.